Description

This ultimate guide on how to blind bake pie crust will give you the perfect base for your pies. Filled with pre-baking tips and troubleshooting, this blind baked pie crust works great for a wide range of pies.

Ingredients

Pie crust, prepared and chilled at least two hours (my homemade pie crust recipe makes enough for 2 crusts)
Flour for rolling

Instructions

Make and chill the pie crust as directed.
Once the dough has rested, unwrap one disc and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to ¼” (6mm) in thickness, turning the dough 45˚ often as you are rolling to keep it even. You want the circle to be slightly larger than your pie tin. Transfer to a 9” pie tin, and arrange to ensure that the dough is well settled.
Trim the dough using scissors or a sharp knife, leaving about one inch excess around the edges. Gently tuck the dough under and onto itself, to give you a neat folded edge. Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, then remove from the fridge and crimp as desired. Dock all over with the tines of a fork, then chill for a further 30 minutes. If you would like, place into the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
While the crust is in the fridge, preheat the oven to 425˚f / 220˚c. Cut a piece of parchment slightly larger than the pie dish. Line with the parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans, filling right to the bottom of the crimps.
Place the pie tin on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment paper and beans.
Return the pie to the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°f / 190°c.
For a Par-baked pie crust, bake for a further 2-3 minutes, until the inside of the pie crust is set and barely golden.
For a Blind baked pie crust, bake the pie crust for a further 5-10 minutes, until the crust is evenly golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Notes

There are two options within this post - blind baked and par-baked, please choose the one your recipe specifies!

I learnt to make pie crust in a gas US oven, which is bottom heated. I have found that the best setting, if you have an electric oven, is a bottom heat only, which prevents the top of the pie burning. You can always tent it with foil if you find it getting too brown too quickly!

Can I blind bake pie crust ahead of time?
Yes - I often do this! You can blind or par-bake pie crust ahead of time. Store it either in an airtight container, or wrapped in plastic wrap on a sheet pan for up to a day.

Glass vs Metal Vs Ceramic - what is the best material for a pie pan?
I want to preface this by saying that the kind of pie pan you use is absolutely up to you - this is just my personal preference! I much prefer a metal pie pan - my favourite is made by USA pan. I much prefer a metal pan - I find that I get a more even bake, and that it is easier to avoid a soggy bottom of the crust. A ceramic pie dish works ok too, but I would avoid using glass - it is a very poor conductor of heat, so can often lead to a soggy bottomed pie.

Pie Weights: I have a few sets of ceramic pie weights (they never sell enough in one pack so I had to get a bunch to make sure I have enough), but you do not need to buy weights! Dried beans or rice works great, or you can use sugar to weigh down the parchment paper. If you use beans or rice, you can use them over and over again for blind baking - just store them in an airtight container. You cannot use them to cook with for regular recipes once you have used them to bind bake.